County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry is asking for an $8,000 raise as the Pima County Board of Supervisors decides next week whether to renew his employment contract.
Huckelberry has an annual base salary of about $280,000 and he is requesting an increase to $288,000.
With other financial benefits that are part of his contract, he makes about $326,865, according to county records.
The contract being considered would be for four years and includes provisions for typical benefits such as health insurance, time off, severance and contributions to his retirement plan. Huckelberry also is asking that he be allowed to decline the use of a county-owned vehicle for work and instead receive a $550 monthly car allowance.
Huckelberry, the county's highest ranking non-elected official, has been at the center of some public battles over the years as he carries out the will of the elected supervisors.
A short list includes fights with developers and environmentalists, the cities of Marana and Tucson, the Legislature and even then- Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed off on a “forensic audit” in 2012 of the county’s 1997, 2004 and 2006 general obligation bonds.
Huckelberry also recently successfully fought the state when it tried to force the county to make up some payments to local taxing districts that the state normally covered. He has also been instrumental in bringing new businesses to the county, including a possible Monsanto greenhouse on the northwest side and space companies World View and Vector Space Systems to land near the airport.
The county's deal with World View has led to a lawsuit by the Goldwater Institute, which claims the county has violated the state's gift-clause constitutional provisions.
Newly elected Supervisor Steve Christy, a Republican, says he plans on keeping his campaign pledge to vote against renewing Huckleberry's contract. Christy will be sworn in on the board next week.
If Christy is able to convince a board majority to vote against the contract, he says he would back a temporary contract while the county conducts a nationwide search for his replacement.
The details of the contract, including the raise, are a moot point to Christy. He says he will always vote against it.
Additionally, Christy says the process to review Huckelberry's contract is bizarre when compared to his experiences in the private sector. As a businessman, Christy said he had weeks or even months to formally review his employees.
Details of Huckelberry's contract went public Wednesday and Christy said he has less than a week to make a decision.
Furthermore, the staff report does not contain a review of Huckleberry's s goal-setting and metrics since his contract was last renewed in 2013.
Supervisor Richard Elías, a Democrat, says Huckelberry has long been an asset to the community and plans on approving his contract.
The raise, he says, is fairly insignificant. "It is a pretty small raise," Elías said.
Elías says while Huckelberry's salary is significant, the residents of Pima County deserve a high functioning professional with decades of institutional knowledge.
